Why Ben Affleck’s Oscar Snub Might Be a Good Thing and Other Nomination Observations

Ben Affleck got snubbed in the Best Director category for his film Argo (above) during Thursday's Oscar nomination announcements. But that may not be the worst thing. Photo: Claire Folger/Warner Bros.

We agree with Bradley Cooper: Ben Affleck was robbed.

Speaking to the Today show Thursday morning Cooper, who was nominated for an Oscar for his epic performance in Silver Linings Playbook, interrupted his congratulations interview to say, “But I do have to say, real quick, I do have to say, Ben Affleck got robbed.” And he’s right. Argo — the actor’s third feature directing effort — is incredible, and we’re not just saying that because it’s based on a Wired story. It’s really that good, and he should’ve received a Best Director nomination for it. So should have Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained and Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty. But even though it’s heartbreaking – not to mention fairly shocking — that they weren’t recognized, their snubs might be a good thing.

And that’s not just because Affleck’s snub gives new meaning to the film’s joke line, “Argo, f*ck yourself.” The real reason? One of the above directors probably lost their slot to Benh Zeitlin. Chances are you may not have heard Zeitlin’s name, you’ve probably heard of his film — Beasts of the Southern Wild. Set in a place known as the “Bathtub” Beasts is a crazy fantasy drama about a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy (played by Quvenzhané Wallis, a first-time actress who Thursday morning became the youngest woman ever to be nominated for Best Actress) whose Louisiana bayou community faces an influx of prehistoric animals known as Aurochs (the “beasts”). It’s a beautiful flick, but its director’s Oscar nod signals not only acknowledgment by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of a well-told story, but also of a DIY director willing to make a less-than-conventional movie almost through sheer will.

Zeitlin, the subject of a glowing Los Angeles Times profile this week for the radical notion of living amongst the people he champions in his film instead of Hollywood, is part of the growing New Orleans movie-making movement, which post-Katrina has seen an influx filmmakers (2012 was a record-breaking year for the town with some $670 million being spent on TV, film, and commercials being shot in the area). And Beasts, which was made for about $1.5 million from a nonprofit, is an excellent example of what indie filmmakers can do in the city. Not to mention the collective Zeitlin is a part of, Court 13 – so named because of the abandoned squash court where they first set up shop – is the kind of anti-studio studio that the Academy should be championing (find out more about Court 13 in the featurette below). (Or maybe the more tech-savvy, indie minded voters were able to push a little more support behind Zeitlin in the e-voting fracas?)

Either way, Zeitlin’s nomination is a huge victory for independent filmmaking and folks like Affleck, who is still going to get the chance to make many more great movies, and Bigelow, who already has one Oscar to her name, are going to be fine. But the nomination for Zeitlin is huge – even if he is going up against heavyweights like Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), David O. Russell (Silver Linings), and slightly-less-heavyweight Michael Haneke (Amour). There’s a chance he could still rock the boat and beat them all.

What else rocked our world during the Oscar nominations? Read on.

2012: The Year Everyone Learned to Adapt

After Best Picture, the hardest-fought race this year might be who takes home an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Argo, Life of Pi, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook were all adapted from other texts. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner’s script for Lincoln is probably the best of the lot, but man, picking a favorite story out of these five films is like picking a favorite child – it’s nearly impossible.

The Best Actress Winner is Probably Going to Break Our Hearts, No Matter What

This field pretty much includes everyone awesome — Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty, Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook, and the aforementioned Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild. While it would be unreal to see someone like Wallis become the youngest Best Actress winner ever, especially for such a great performance, but over here we’re also very big fans of Chastain’s steely cool as CIA operative Maya and Lawrence’s brand of heart-wrenching crazy. Not to mention Emmanuelle Riva in Amour and Naomi Watts in The Impossible are nothing to scoff at either. This one will be the biggest nail-biter when the Oscars air Feb. 24.

Life of Pi For All the Technical Awards

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi is second only to Lincoln in the total number of nominations it got – it had 11 compared to the 12 given to Steven Spielberg’s film. And let’s just say this – it can have all the technical awards it wants. It’s beautiful. As much as we’d like to see an award (any award) go to Avengers, in the VFX category, Pi has it bested. And it was definitely better than The Hobbit in that category. It can get little gold men for production design and cinematography too. HOWEVER, if it runs off with Best Picture, atheists everywhere will probably be having a silent cry.

A funny thing happened during the Oscar nominee announcements this morning – after each Best Supporting Actor nominee was named, presenter Emma Stone deadpanned, “He’s won before.” The whole lot – Robert De Niro, Alan Arkin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones, Christoph Waltz – all have Oscars already. So, even though Waltz was in-freaking-credible in Django Unchained (easy as good as he was in Inglourious Basterds) it would’ve been nice to see one of his co-stars – Samuel L. Jackson or Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom have never won an Oscar – get a nod.

Wreck-It Ralph is Facing Off Against ParaNorman

Ok, this is stressful. ParaNorman is a wonderful film from the fine folks at Laika Entertainment. But Wreck-It Ralph was a smart, funny feature that really found a way to give videogames some serious heart. And both of them are up against Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and the other great female archery movie of the summer, Brave. Nerds totally united in the Best Animated Feature category, and now they have to battle it out like they’re in the Hunger Games. Consider us torn.

Here’s The Thing With Ad Blockers

We get it: Ads aren’t what you’re here for. But ads help us keep the lights on. So, add us to your ad blocker’s whitelist or pay $1 per week for an ad-free version of WIRED. Either way, you are supporting our journalism. We’d really appreciate it.